


Kiss

by AndromedaPrime



Series: Yeager Program [2]
Category: Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Awkwardness, Cade is a robot, First Kiss, M/M, past Megatron/Optimus Prime - Freeform, pseudo-xeno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-13
Updated: 2014-10-02
Packaged: 2018-02-13 00:35:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2130432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndromedaPrime/pseuds/AndromedaPrime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was where he should have broken it off, drawn away and profusely apologized for his completely unwarranted actions, and left the barn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kiss

“Well, at least your dad’ll never have to worry ‘bout getting anywhere again babe.”

Tessa smacked Shane in the arm and gave him a pointed look. “Not now Shane. He’s still struggling with all this.”

Cade chose to ignore the tiny Irishman, instead staring at the ground. He looked at his hands… well, _servos_ , as Optimus had told him they were called on Cybertron. Now that he was Cybertronian for the foreseeable future, until he could revert back to a human form, he would have to get used to their terminology.

He didn’t want this, fraggit.

He wanted to be human again and be able to worry about human things, like how to get to places. He wasn’t supposed to be his own mode of transportation.

Cade looked up at the darkening Texas sky stretching out before him. He heard Tessa and Shane talking about something, a party they were to planning to go to later. He tuned them out and thought of how everything else seemed so small and finite to him now, when only days before he thought the sky and the land were infinite.

“-didn’t Optimus like flip his shit or somethin’ about that one bot being melted down?” Shane’s voice cut through his thoughts and he looked over at Ratchet and Ironhide having a “friendly” sparring session in a flat field overgrown with plants. Cade mentally placed the word friendly in quotation marks because damn, the way they fought would make any casual onlooker think that they really hated each other’s guts and were hell-bent on destroying something of the other’s.

The black mech, Ironhide, headbutted Ratchet and toppled both of them to the ground. Static, binary shouts pierced the air and suddenly Ratchet was whacking Ironhide over the helm with a giant wrench.

“Yeah, that’s Ratchet,” Tessa said. Leaning back on her hands and watching the black and the green mechs tussle around, she continued, “Optimus found Ratchet’s spark chamber in the bounty hunter’s ship. Mr. Joyce still had a lot of transformium lying around in the China factory so Optimus went and tossed the chamber into a pool of it and instead of just getting Ratchet back, he got Ratchet _and_ Ironhide back.”

“How?” Shane’s voice was slightly incredulous.

It was here that Cade and the two humans became aware of Optimus standing right behind them, as the Prime replied, “Ratchet’s spark contained traces of Ironhide’s spark, and therefore his personality. Since the both of them were and are bondmates, the transformium read, in Ratchet’s spark, two different spark signatures. As a result, these two were remade, and not just Ratchet. For that, I am most grateful.”

“That was a complete and utter foul, Ironhide!” Ratchet’s shout drew all attention to him, his voice drifting from the field to the hill where the two Cybertronians and the two humans sat. “We agreed no headbutts!”

“We also agreed no wrenches,” Ironhide reached up and snatched the medic’s favored tool from his grip, metallic faceplates shifting upward into a smirk, “and look who’s got one now, punk.”

“Only because you broke the rules first, you fragger.”

“Are these two always like this?” Tessa looked past her boyfriend and the large metal form of her dad to Optimus seated next to him, at the other end of the line they created. “That… doesn’t seem healthy.”

“They are almost always like this, Tessa Yeager. But believe me, Ratchet and Ironhide have always had one of the healthiest and most loving relationships I have ever seen in my life cycle. They are both playfighting and they rather enjoy working up a charge for later activities.”

Before either of the humans, and the human-turned-Cybertronian, could ask what Optimus meant by “later activities,” they were treated to the sight of Ironhide groping at the apex of Ratchet’s thighs and the sound of Ratchet’s sirens going off. The green mech pushed the black digits off of his frame but then he leapt to his pedes and ran off some distance, Ironhide following. Both mechs disappeared into a gathering of trees on the other side of the field, effectively shielding them from sight. Optimus merely placed his helm in a servo and sighed heavily.

Shane broke the minute of quiet that passed after the two bots ran off into high brush and trees. “So… how?”

“I am not up for a discussion of our berthroom activities, which shouldbe kept _in_ the berthroom and not displayed out in public for all to view.” Optimus then thinned his lipplates and contemplated his words before continuing, “However, given that we have no berthrooms and no ship… do not attempt to walk in their general direction for the next Earth hour, I would say. Two, to be safer.”

With that, Optimus up and left the other three to themselves.

Shane leaned in to whisper to Tessa. Cade heard what the eventual son-in-law said, and he whipped his helm to glare down at them and spoke his first words of that night. “Don’t talk about that right next to me.”

“You could hear me?!” Shane exclaimed, scrambling to his feet and Tessa following after him.

“I can hear the goddamn stray cat hunting a squeaking mouse right next to the barn, of _course_ I hear everything!” Cade thinned his lipplates and exvented. “Tess, go to your room. You,” he raised a metallic finger and pointed at Shane, prodding him in his chest, “leave.”

Not wanting to get squashed underneath a robotic foot, Shane gave Tessa a quick peck on her cheek before running to his car and squealing off the property. Tessa sighed in frustration, glared at her dad, and stalked off to her room. He heard her mumbling “goddamn square” and “hard ass” under her breath.

By then the sky had gone very dark blue and stars were beginning to peep out from the fabric of the night sky. Cade lay himself flat on the ground and stared up at the heavens, watching as stars blinked into view and twinkled.

He wondered briefly if maybe one of the stars he could see was the sun that gave light to Cybertron, the homeworld of the Transformers. Perhaps Optimus would know.

Cade waited and watched a few more stars flicker into place, allowing the nighttime wind to pass over his frame and for the crickets to start chirping before he got to his pedes. The wind carried soft moans and the sounds of metal on metal from the woods across the field. He had half a mind to go and shout for them to keep it down but he was fairly certain that if he did he’d feel one of Ratchet’s tools colliding with his head.

So he strolled away from the woods instead, heading for the barn.

The worktables and all his inventions had been pushed to the sides, against the walls of the barn. He wasn’t even angry like he would have been had he still been human. All the stuff would have to stay there for now; he had no use for it. He hoped to God that Ratchet would be able to turn him back into a human soon.

At the other end of the barn he saw Optimus sitting on the ground, hunched over, legs drawn up to his chest and arms placed over his knee joints.

“Didn’t expect to see you here.”

Tired blue optics looked up at Cade standing at the entrance to the barn. Optimus shifted where he sat and murmured, “If you wish to be alone I will leave.”

“No, no, I’m just… I didn’t expect to see you here. But you’re fine.”

Optimus’s faceplates shifted into a small grin before he looked down at his legs, optic ridges drawn in contemplation.

Cade was quiet for a few moments, looking around the barn for other points to stare at other than the hulking Autobot leader in the corner. That old 50’s diner style clock was cute, but he’d stared at it too often as a human and had eventually lost interest in the way it looked and how it ticked. Being a Cybertronian hadn’t changed it.

He also realized he needed to really take down those SXSW posters. Tessa could put them up in her room, not in his sanctuary.

“Cade, you’re very quiet.”

“Yeah, have been for the past… couple days, Optimus.”

“Cade, if you are uncomfortable with me being in here,” Optimus stood to nearly his full height, giving the other mech a genuinely sorry expression, “I will leave you alone.”

“No!” Cade was startled by how he sounded, how his protest was so loud. Even Optimus looked slightly taken aback. Cade shook his head and quieted his voice down, saying, “I’m sorry. No, you can stay. I’ve just been real quiet lately, trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’m now only a foot or two shorter than you now. It’s a big change, given that just a couple days ago,” the Texan chuckled bitterly and placed his hands to his hips. He continued, “Given that just a couple days ago I was the size of your hand.”

Optimus’s expression changed to one of sympathy. He slowly walked over to Cade and placed a servo on the other mech’s arm. Cade looked at the hand on his arm then back up at the mech next to him, into those tired blue eyes.

“I am sorry, Cade. If I had known that you coming into contact with the Matrix would have done this to you, I would have never allowed you to touch it. The Matrix works in mysterious ways but I don’t feel any of us could have anticipated, could have known that this would occur.”

“But you didn’t know. It’s… it’s not alright that this happened to me. I hate it, I wish I could go back into my house and hug Tessa, eat fried chicken and beer, take that Silverado for a drive instead of driving my own damn self. But what happened, it’s not your fault, Optimus.”

The light in those tired, weary blue eyes dimmed. “I still feel at fault. I am sorry.”

Cade didn’t know what possessed him to do this. Maybe it was the look on Optimus’s face, tired, weary, that made him think of Lynn in her final days. She had been so strong for so long, having just enough strength to keep up a smile for him and for Tessa. He raised his hand and gently touched the side of the Autobot Commander’s face, caressing the surface in a comforting gesture.

Lynn would smile when he did that.

Optimus’s expression changed to one of slight confusion.

And Cade didn’t know what also possessed him to do this. But he leaned upward, closing the short distance between him and the Prime, and their lipplates met.

He didn’t see what expression Optimus had now, given that it was normal that when you kissed someone you would close your eyes. But he felt Optimus’s entire frame stiffen against his. That action spoke volumes, and he knew.

He fucked up.

He utterly fucked up.

This was where he should have broken it off, drawn away and profusely apologized for his completely unwarranted actions, and left the barn. He was about to do so, and then he felt Optimus’s hands come around to clutch at his back, holding him close. The Autobot leader made no move to draw away, and neither did Cade.

It seemed to last a long time, the kiss. Cade lifted a hand and placed it on the back of Optimus’s helm, drawing him in closer.

Something revved loudly. Cade couldn’t tell if it was him or Optimus. Optimus moaned into the kiss, the vibrations sweet and enticing, and then Cade knew that it was the Prime’s engine that had revved loudly, approving of their actions.

Cade thought for a moment that maybe he hadn’t fucked up after all.

Suddenly Optimus jerked his helm back, breaking the kiss, and stared down at Cade in shock. His engine stopped purring and everything went completely silent.

Fucking hell.

The Prime stepped back, moving his entire frame away from the other mech and putting a few paces between them. Cade stared helplessly and reached out, opening his mouth to say that he was sorry and that he was completely out of line, but Optimus was quicker to look downward and say, “I am sorry Cade. I… I will leave you alone now.”

With that, the Autobot leader ducked out of the barn, leaving the black and blue mech to wonder what Optimus even had to apologize for.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! Apologies for the _very_ late update; writer's block and real life claimed me, and I'm currently drowning under a pile of homework and projects that need to get done, but the writer's block went away and enabled me to jot this down.

Sunlight shone through the windows of the barn, piercing through Cade’s eye covers and startling him awake.

He hadn’t even known that he’d fallen asleep.

Cade startled awake, shooting up and looking around for any sign of Optimus. There was none, however; only he occupied the building, it seemed. He wondered where the big guy was for a moment, then he remembered his big blunder from last night.

Cade groaned and held his head in his hands, shaking it. Disappointed in himself.

What had possessed him to do it?

Whatever it was, he wanted to murder it.

He made his way out of the barn and stood up, stretching his cables and joints. His human form would show its age in the form of his joints cracking and popping and his muscles tensing to the point that they hurt. In this new form, there was no cracking and popping and pulled cables; he never thought he’d think or say this, but he missed that pop in shoulders and knees.

Ironhide and Ratchet had returned to the property sometime during the night. Both mechs were laying on a large empty stretch of land and curled into each other, legs intertwined and hands holding onto some piece of armor on each other’s frame. One of Ironhide’s legs twitched and Ratchet made a noise that sounded like a snore.

It would have been cute if they hadn’t been enormous metallic robots, and if Ratchet hadn’t decided to lie down on the wire fence. He’d have to have Tessa call someone to come fix it. Normally, in his human form, he’d already be outside shooing the two bots away so he could mend the fence.

All he did was clear his vocalizer. The sound was loud enough that both mechs woke up and stared at him for a moment until they realized their blunder and they stood up, Ratchet muttering apologies and Ironhide growling.

“Did any of you see where Optimus went?”

Ratchet was the first to answer, looking over the long dirt driveway that led up to the Yeager home. “He was here this morning, but he said he was going to take a long drive.”

“Well… where was he last night?”

“Wouldn’t know,” Ironhide groused, turning and nudging Ratchet. “Was a little caught up in other things.”

Cade wiped the mental image that was conjured by those words (Ironhide bouncing on Ratchet’s thighs, _why_ ) and sighed. “Did he say anything else?”

“Not that I remember. Why the sudden interest, Cade?” Ratchet stared at the new-formed Cybertronian and before Cade could awkwardly mumble some answer of sorts the medic followed up with, “Your spark pulse rate has increased and there is a surge of energon going toward your faceplates, a typical sign of mortif-”

“Okay, _okay_ I get it, just…” Cade turned away from the two bots and closed his eyes. He wondered if his silver face would brighten up and turn red in embarrassment. “Stop, alright? I’m asking ‘cause I did something I shouldn’t have last night.”

He could feel Ironhide’s and Ratchet’s questioning stares upon his back. He was signing his death certificate, wasn’t he?

Cade Yeager.

Cause of death: Kissed the Autobot Commander, died of embarrassment. And probably also from Ironhide’s cannons.

“I kissed him. I kissed Optimus.”

The questioning gazes on his back turned cold and hard. A rough servo grabbed his shoulder and turned him around, and he came face to face with a _very_ angry Ironhide. Metallic nostrils flared and vented hot air. “If you hurt him in any way, I will not be kind in how I take you out.”

“Wh-what?! No!” Cade yanked himself free of the black mech’s grip and backed up, optics wide, and he was beginning to panic when a furious Ironhide closed the distance between them. Cade raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and shook his helm. “No, no, I just did that and then we both freaked out, he walked away, _I’m concerned_ about how he’s taking it!”

“Ironhide, will you-” Ratchet came in and roughly grabbed the weapons specialist’s arm, yanking him toward him. “Stop.”

Ironhide turned and glared at his mate, who glared back. After a minute, Ironhide nodded, relented, and stepped back. Cade put his hands down and sighed. “I was going to tell him that I screwed up and I was going to leave, but he beat me to it. He said he was sorry, even though he didn’t do anything, and then he was the one that left.”

“Cade,” Ratchet said, looking at the black and blue Cybertronian, “you have not known Optimus for long. One thing you must know about him: he was betrayed long ago by the only mech that he has ever loved. I was present when he swore he would never love another and for eons, he has succeeded. You did wrong, Cade.”

“I know.” Cade sighed. “He told me about Megatron and Genesis.”

The mention of Megatron’s name would make everyone bristle. Optimus had only mentioned Genesis to him, that night that Cade became a Cybertronian, and not around the others. The mention of Genesis made the harsh expressions on Ironhide and Ratchet’s faceplates drop, replaced by something akin to melancholy.

“Oh, Genesis,” Ratchet whispered, optics dimming. Ironhide’s expression turned back to harshness but it wasn’t directed at Cade this time. The medic sighed and continued, “I still remember the moment I pulled her from Optimus, the love in his optics as he held her the first time. And eons later and I can still hear Optimus’s scream.”

Cade asked before he could stop himself, “What happened to her?”

Silence passed. He‘d fucked up, again.

Screw-up was a proper way to describe him, indeed.

“The Decepticons had attacked two of our bases before during the start of the war, and each time we moved. We were never able to figure out how they managed to discover the locations of our subsequent bases. They likely had the Insecticons follow us. Well, Optimus kept Genesis with him at all points in time since her birth. If Megatron ever learned about her, he would stop at _nothing_ to seize her and mold her to his twisted ways.

“Genesis was nearing her second sparkday and fully able to walk and run. Optimus left her in the small room designated for sparkling care with the two caretakers. He was summoned by Prowl and Ironhide, who were worried the Decepticons were closing in on the third base.”

“Slaggin-”

“Ironhide, please.” Ratchet cast a glance at his mate. Ironhide glared back and sighed. Cade hadn’t noticed that the cannons had come online until he heard them powering down. “The one time, _the one time_ , that Optimus had ever left her alone would be his last.

“The Decepticons attacked the northern part of the underground base. Optimus was in the southern part. Most of the other Autobots were in the eastern and western sections. By the time that everyone converged to the northern section and beat the Decepticons into submission, the four sparklings and their two caretakers had been mercilessly slaughtered.”

Ratchet didn’t need to say anything more. Cade’s mind conjured images of a dying alien world, a stoic and noble Prime kneeling on the ground and screaming as he held a still, tiny form in his arms.

“Optimus found Genesis in the grip of a mech. He slaughtered the mech with as much mercy as he’d shown the sparklings. Optimus told me stellar cycles later that he’d felt Genesis’s terror over their sparkbond. A moment before he entered what remained of the sparkling care room he felt her spark extinguish.”

It was still and quiet. Cade turned around and inhaled, looking at the brightening sky. God, that explained so much.

He had always assumed that Optimus had saved him and Tessa that day in return for bringing him back online. Optimus didn’t want him to be subjected to the same thing he’d seen. What a parent should never see.

He made a note that whenever he got turned back into a human to give Tessa the biggest hug he’d ever give anyone. If Tessa protested… well, tough.

“Optimus has gone through much more in his lifecycle than most of us Autobots. He lost his mate, lost his child to those working under his mate-turned-nemesis, and carries the guilt of losing Cybertron and the All Spark with him. When he was discovered to be descended from the lineage of the Primes that once ruled Cybertron, he was destined to rule as well. Our lack of a place to call home, he blames himself for it.”

“Heh,” Ironhide snorted, mouthplates still twisted down in a frown. “Self-sacrificing glitch that one.”

Cade was inclined to agree whole-heartedly.

“I’m sorry.” Cade reached up and touched his neck, still avoiding looking at the other two mechs. He shuffled his feet. “I really, really shouldn’t have done that, even before what you said to me.”

“Optimus has given up much for us. I’m afraid he has forgotten how to react to anything that is not an act of war.” Ratchet’s optics brightened slightly and he looked at some point over Cade’s shoulder. “And I should mention that he is returning from his drive.”

Cade tried so hard to not turn around, but his body failed him. He turned toward the driveway leading to the house and saw the large blue and red semi getting closer and closer to them. He felt his stomach (or tank, whatever it was now) drop.

What would he say? What would _Optimus_ say?

Optimus came to rest a good ten yards from them while he took on his bipedal mode. The Autobot commander avoided looking at Cade as he looked at Ironhide and Ratchet and said, “Good morning you both. Where are the others?”

“They’re in the back of the house. What’d they do this time?”

Optimus looked at Ironhide and sighed. “I noticed Bumblebee racing with Crosshairs along civilian streets when I first left. They spotted me and returned back to the property.”

“Hmph!” Ironhide powered up his cannons and stalked to the back of the house. Ratchet followed, and a moment later they heard Ironhide yelling at the others. Cade hadn’t even noticed Bee and Crosshairs returning… unless they’d cut through the back of the property?

Goddammit, that probably meant another part of the fence to get fixed.

It was just him and the Prime. Optimus was now looking at him, and Cade could feel himself wilting under those intense blue optics. He cleared his vocalizer and just as he was about to break the silence Optimus turned away and ducked back into the barn.

Crap. Now Cade had no place to go and hide in.

He sat down on the ground, hunched over, staring at the yellow-green grass beneath him.

He couldn’t hide from Optimus forever. It was a cowardly thing to do; he had to own up to his severe transgression.

Cade stood up and ducked into the barn.

Optimus was seated in the far corner again, back to the entrance. It looked a little bit pathetic, the way the Autobot Commander was hunched over. He looked smaller than he really was.

Cade cleared his vocalizer. Optimus didn’t move. Cade cleared his vocalizer again and said, “Optimus.”

The Prime didn’t move his frame, but he did turn his head slightly toward Cade, gaze fixing on the wall next to him and Cade.

“Hey, Optimus. I’m… I’m sorry, alright? I’m really sorry for what I did. It was…,” Cade trailed off for a moment and looked at the same point on the wall that Optimus was looking at. It was to his embarrassment that he realized it was a poster of _The Notebook_ that he’d gotten from the movie theater in Paris when it’d finished its run. He had gotten it for Lynn, as it was the last movie they’d seen in a theater until the cancer took its toll and she had to be cared for round the clock. He’d hung it up in her hospital room to give her something to smile at, and had tacked it up carelessly at the back of the barn when she’d died.

He’d forgotten about it.

Cade looked away from the poster and toward the hulking metal figure sitting next to it, continuing, “It wasn’t right. I don’t know what came over me but I’m just… I’m sorry, alright? Look, if you don’t want me to talk to you or anything anymore, just say the word and I’ll... I’ll stop.”

The Prime didn’t move, speak, anything to show that he’d heard. He continued looking at that poster. The tension in the barn settled heavy on Cade’s spark, and he took Optimus’s nonverbalness to mean that he was unwelcome. Cade sighed and turned around, about to bid Optimus bye and duck out of the barn when a low baritone voice rumbled, “Cade?”

He turned back around. Now Optimus had turned his frame around and was looking at him.

God, those blue eyes…

“I accept your apology, Cade. And I apologize for my reaction.”

“No, God, Optimus…” Cade threw his hands up in the air and sighed. “You have nothing to apologize for. It’s my fault. You have _nothing_ -”

“I could have reacted with more tact, Cade. I could have given you the opportunity to apologize and for me to assure you that I do not hold this against you. It was uncalled for, yes. I…” Optimus trailed off as he stood up nearly to his full height; he couldn’t get to his full height because if he did he’d wind up breaking the roof of the barn. He looked at Cade and sighed heavily. “When Megatron betrayed me and when I lost Genesis I swore that I would never fall in love with another.”

Cade’s his eyes widened at the words as Optimus continued, “Megatron and I have a history behind us that cannot be matched. I held out the hope that I might turn him away from what he has become, that we might be able to reunite one day and that I could tell him of the daughter that we had, but… no more. I cannot keep putting myself through such things. My hope that I can turn Megatron away from the path he went down has gone. I am…”

Optimus trailed off and looked away from Cade, venting heavily.

Steeling himself for the answer, Cade asked, “You said you “swore” you’d never fall in love with someone else… did you break that?”

Those intense blue eyes looked at the black and blue Cybertronian. A nod of a helm had Cade’s spark pulsing quickly. “When we were aboard that ship. You told me to see the treasure in the heap of trash. I looked at you, and I knew then that you were the treasure to be found. You are the reason that I continued to stay here for longer than I should have. But you were human then, and I was repulsed at myself for loving someone of a different species.”

Cade walked over to Optimus and placed a hand on the Prime’s arm. “And now?”

The Prime’s optics stared into his, and hands came up to cup Cade’s face as he leaned forward, his forehelm meeting the other mech’s forehelm. “I will enjoy our time together while you are Cybertronian… if you consent to it, of course.”

Chuckling, Cade placed his hands at Optimus’s hips. He pecked the Prime on his lipplates lightly. “Y’know, I promised myself I’d never love another woman after Lynn died. But a giant robot doesn’t count, I suppose. Promises are made to be broken, anyway.”

With that, Cade planted a full kiss on the taller mech. Optimus shut his optics, wrapped his arms around Cade’s shoulders, and sighed into the kiss, engine revving loudly. This time, he didn’t pull back.

They failed to hear the doors to the barn open, until they heard a piercing shriek.

“JESUS CHRIST DAD!”

Both mechs broke the kiss and looked down at the entrance of the barn, where a blonde girl in blue and pink pajamas stood. She had her hands on her hips, eyes wide, mouth set in a line. “Could you _STOP_ being a goddamn weirdo for two seconds?!”

“Hmm,” Cade’s lipplates shifted upwards into a smile and he looked at the Prime in his arms. “Nah, I don’t think so.”

Optimus’s smile outshone the sun, and their lipplates met again. They heard Tessa walk away, muttering something about brain bleach.


End file.
